DANGEROUS JUNGLES & TRICKY TERRAIN

Yesterday's post began at an airport. And so we begin today. I am trying my best to get out of Columbus, Ohio after my flight last night was cancelled. I also had a hell of a time getting to Columbus where I met with folks from Scotts Miracle Gro.

The loyal Zephyr suggested all these obstacles were omens to deter me "from being sucked into the vortex of an evil empire". Yet if we’re going to allow for omens at all we’ve got to be open-minded. Add the lovely people I met at Scotts plus the likelihood of returning home safely today and I’d say we’re even.

No doubt we’ll be talking a whole lot more about SMOG (Scotts Miracle Ortho Gro). Or should that be SHMOOGS (Smith Hawns Miracle Ortho Osmocote Gro Scotts). The list could be as long (GOSHMOS, SOMGOSH, GMOOSH or how about just GOSH) as one’s plane delay. Fortunately, mine’s on time.

Though time enough to recall negotiating other treacherous terrain: the edges of the Corcovado jungle on the Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica.
Traveling across this southernmost part of the country involved a grueling three hour road trip during which my my lower vertebrae felt fused with molten lead. If you’ve suffered with back pain yourself you’ve likely discovered the only cure is walking, so after a gently medicated night I set out the next morning to explore the jungle paths surrounding El Remanso, a quiet paradise resort. The jungle surrounded us on all sides allowing borrowed views of the Pacific. Visible tree tops swayed with the odd cluster of monkeys; up close you’d likely see bark-toned lizards and bright-beaked birds. The transition from the resort’s manicured green to the jungle’s leafy chaos was immediate as I found myself transported into a leafy netherworld where I felt much as I do when hiking in NW forests: Safe.
What could be more idyllic? Sustaining? Benign? As it turned out, even dinner with Dick Cheney would have been safer than my walk in the woods.

Part Two, tomorrow...